Can filling machines



Sept. 27, 1955 H. w. MOKINNON CAN FILLING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 10, 1955 IN VENTOR HORATIO WATSON M KINNON Sept. 27, 1955 H. W. MCKINNON CAN FILLING MACHINES Filed July 10, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 a l3! VIII 1 INVENTOR HORATIO WATSON M KIN/VON ATTORNEY Sept. 27, 1955 w, MCKINNON 2,718,993

CAN FILLING MACHINES Filed July 10, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR HORAT/O WATSON M KlNNON ATTORNEY Sept. 27, 195 H. w. M KINNON CAN FILLING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 10, 1955 INVENTOR HORAT/O WATSON M "K/NNON P 1955 H. w. MOKINNON 2,718,993

CAN FILLING MACHINES Filed Ju ly 10, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 )lgtL/Z. /m /3 INVENTOR HORAT/o WATSON M KINNON ATTORNEY United States Patent CAN FILLING MACHINES Horatio Watson McKinnon, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada Application July 10, 1953, Serial No. 367,289

1s Claims. 01. 226-95) My invention relates to improvements in can filling machines.

In the canning industry salmon is largely put up in shallow cans known as half pound fiats and the fish is cut into lengths by machine to the depth of the cans and in order that it may present a good appearance when the can is open, it is common to fill the cans by hand. This hand filling is somewhat slow and costly. There is a keen demand for smaller quantities of salmon packed in cans, which involves cutting the fish into smaller lengths or slices and requires greater skill in packing so that the slices do not overlap or become twisted before the can tops are put in place. The extra care required in hand filling these very shallow cans increases the cost per pound of fish packed to such an extent that itbecomes uneconomical to fill any can less in depth than the so-called fiat.

The object of the present invention is to pack the fish and place it in the can by machine in such a manner that it will be a practical and economic operation and the fish will,'on being opened, present the desired good appearance. A further object is to provide a means for assembling the' sliced fish on a table where it is compacted prior to being fed into the cans, so that few, if any, cans will be rejected as underweight and very few will be overweight, consequently both time and money will be saved over the conventional filling process.

Referring to the acompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a rear elevational view of the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view, part in section, taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a part sectional plan view taken on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a plan view showing parts broken away.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 55 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a detail view of the slip clutch drive on the fish feed, taken on the line 66 of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a detail sectional view of the can filling knock-out pad.

Figure 8 is a plan view of same looking up.

Figure 9 is a detail plan view of the knife spindle drive.

Figure 10 is a detail view of the cam for delivering cans to can filling position.

Figure 11 is a detail of the cam for raising the cans to filling position.

Figures 12 to 16 inclusive are diagrammatic views showing the sequence of operations from the commencement of cutting the fish to circular form to delivering said fish to the can and retracting the knife to starting position.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

The numeral 1 indicates generally a frame supporting a bed 3 upon which the sliced fish steaks are adapted to be delivered from a conveyor belt 4, see Figures 2, 3 and 4. The conveyor belt is trained over a roller 5 fitted upon a transverse shaft 6 and is driven by a sprocket chain from a driven shaft 8, which shaft is in turn driven from ice a motor 9 through a suitable reduction gear 10 and its drive shaft 12.

Extending transversely of the rear end of the bed 3 is an end wall 14, see Figures 4 and 5, which is provided on its forward side with a plurality of concave vertical recesses 15, one for each can filled per cycle of operation. The forward edge of the bed 3 facing the end wall 14 is spaced therefrom to define a filling area 17 and is provided with substantially semi-circular recesses 18 which are directly opposite to the recesses 15 of the end wall 14. An apertured plate 20, which is co-extensive with the bed 3, is slidably mounted below the rear end of said bed and in contact therewith. This plate is provided with circular apertures 21, one for each can to be filled. The plate 20 rides upon guide rails 22 at the sides of the frame 1 and is connected at each end to the upper ends of upstanding levers 24.

A cam shaft 26 is mounted transversely of the frame and is fitted with a pulley 27, see Figure 3, which is driven by a belt 28 from a pulley 29 upon the shaft 8. The outer ends of the shaft 26 are fitted with identical cams 30 which are coupled to the levers 24 by horizontal connecting rods 31 to reciprocate the apertured plate 20, which plate is shown in the several figures as being at rest, closing the interspace between the end wall 14 and the inner or recessed end of the bed 3 and with its apertures 21 closed ofi by the bed.

Extending transversely of the machine is a can receiving table 36 which in the present machine designed to fill a row of tin cans simultaneously is provided with two arcuate stops 37 at its mid-length position and cans are adapted to be fed onto the table from steeply inclined gravity conveyors 38, see Figure 1, feeding downwardly from opposite sides of the machine to deliver two aligned rows 39 of five cans each in contacting relation with each other and with the innermost of each row in contact with a stop 37, as shown in Figure 3. The side of the can receiving table 36 to the left of Figure 3 is provided with upstanding fins 40 which differ in angularity transverse to the table and serve to space the cans apart to their proper position during movement onto the can lifters 42. The can lifters 42 are cylindrical and are each provided with a vertical slot 43 extending therethrough towards the can receiving table, each of said lifters are supported upon a transverse bar 45 supported adjacent opposite ends on vertical rods 46 which are slidably mounted in sleeves 47 carried by the frame 1, see Figure 11. Each can lifter 42 is provided on its upper end with a shallow rim portion 49, see Figures 3 and 11, which serves to stop the can as it is centered onto its respective lifter.

A pair of cams 52 are fitted upon the shaft 26 which impart rocking movement to levers 53, as shown in Figure 11, the free end of each of these levers is conneeted to the lower end of one of the vertical rods 46 to raise the cans into filling position. To the rear of the can lifters 42 a discharge slide plate having arcuate recesses 56 on its forward edge is provided, the recesses parallel the wall on one side of the can lifters and are each provided with a tongue 57 which extends into a slot 43 of a can lifter, as shown in detail in Figure 5. The slide plate is of such incline and length of incline as to cause cans moving down it to be delivered onto a discharge conveyor 58 which is disposed to the rear of the machine as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4.

Mounted horizontally on guide rails 60 below the bed 3, see Figures 2 and 3, is a can pusher plate 61 having a front edge 62 which is adapted to simultaneously engage the rows of cans 39 to move them onto the several can lifters 42. The plate 61 also has end edges 63 which, when the pusher plate is advanced to remove the cans from the can receiving table 36, block the path of further cans from the gravity conveyors 38. The

pusher plate 61 is reciprocated by means of cams which are mounted upon the shaft 26, one only being shown, see Figures 3 and 10, which cams impart swinging movement to a lever 71. The upper ends of the levers 71 are connected to the free ends of a pair of horizontal rods 73 extending forwardly from the pusher plate. A pair of standards 76 are provided on opposite sides of the bed at the rear of the machine which carry step and head bearings 77 and 78 in which vertical shafts 79 are journalled for unitary rotation. Each of these vertical shafts are driven by mitre gear and countershaft operating trains 80 from the driven shaft 8. Both shafts 79 are fitted with a drum 84 having upper cam grooves 85 and lower cam grooves 86 which are engaged respectively with vertically reciprocating horizontal bars 87 and 88, which bars have sliding movement in guides 89 and are provided with stops 90 which engage the sides of the guides 89 to prevent end movement of said bars. A vertical transverse plate member 93 extends forwardly of and from one standard 76 to the other, which plate supports a plurality of pairs of bearing brackets 95' and in these bearing brackets spindles 96 are journalled,

one for each can space. Each spindle 96 includes a quill 97 directly journalled in the bearing brackets 95, a sleeve 98 non rotatable but slidably mounted in the quill, and a vertical shaft 99 vertically slidable in the sleeve 98. The quills 97 are each fitted with a sprocket 102, all of which are driven by a chain 103 from a drive sprocket 104 secured upon one of the vertical shafts 7,9, the chain following a zigzag course around the sprockets 102 and also around an idler 105, see Figure 9, which is adjustably mounted from one of the standards 76 to adjust the tension of the chain 103. Each sleeve 98 is fitted with a trunnion bearing 108, and a fork 109 is extended horizontally from the bar 88, so that the rotation of the cam 86 will impart vertical movement to said sleeve. At the lower end of the sleeve 98 a cylindrical knife 110 is secured, which knife is of the diameter of the disk of fish to be packed in each can. The vertical shaft 99 extends through the sleeve 98 as above stated and is enclosed adjacent its upper end with an air valve cylinder 112, see detail in Figure 7. The air valve cylinders 112 are supported upon a transverse member 114 which is carried from the standards 76 and each cylinder is provided with a vertical groove or air passage 115 which communicates with a suction pipe 116 leading from a suitable pump or vacuum tank, not shown. At the lower end of the valve cylinder 112 an inlet port 118 is provided which is connected with an air pressure pipe 119.

The shaft 99 has an axial bore 121 and is fitted at its lower end with a circular knock out pad 122, which pad is preferably provided on its lower face with radial grooves 124 to permit air admitted to the bore 121 of the vertical shaft 99 to break the adhesion of the disk of fish to the knock out pad at the appointed time. The upper end of the shaft 99 is provided, at a point within the valve cylinder 112, with a peripheral groove 126 and with radial inlet ports 127 extending into the bore of the shaft.

A plurality of vent fingers 130, one to each can, are provided on the underside of the apertured plate 20. Each finger is spring tensioned as at 132 to hang with a slight incline to the left as shown in Figure 5, so as to keep it clear of the adjacent can wall when said can is raised into filling position and to allow said finger to lie parallel with the can wall as the fish is forced thereinto. At the rear end of the apertured plate 20 a plurality of circular grooves 135 are provided which are adapted to receive the cutting edges of the cylindrical knives subsequent to cutting through the fish, as will be hereinafter described.

A cover plate having parallel side walls 141 is removably mounted upon the bed, thus forming a tunnel 142 of substantially the depth of the slices of fish to be canned. The upper surface of the cover plate is provided with longitudinal slots 144 and above these slots a plurality of endless belts 146 are provided, which belts are trained over driven and idler pulleys 147 and 148 respectively. The belts are fitted with spikes 149 which extend down through the slots 144 and enter into the fish in the tunnel to urge it towards the end wall 14 of the bed 3.

A pair of bearings 151 are supported at the front of the machine in which a countershaft 153 is journalled. This shaft is driven by a chain and sprocket train from the driven shaft 8 and is fitted with a slip clutch 154, one side of which is secured to the shaft and the other side of said clutch is coupled to a pinion 155 which in turn drives a gear wheel 156 and its shaft 157. The normal speed of the shaft 157 is such that the spikes 149 will traverse the bed at a somewhat higher speed than the conveyor 4 will feed the fish onto it, so as to crowd the fish up against the end wall 14 and the slip clutch 154 is provided to prevent the fish from being compressed unduly when it is abutting the end wall 14 and is below the spindles 96 and their knives 110.

In operation, fish steaks or slices are placed on the conveyor 4 in relatively close formation from which they are fed onto the bed 3 andinto the tunnel 142. The moving spikes 149 on the belts 146 crowd the fish into a flat sheet confined by the side walls 141 depending from the cover plate 140. The higher feed speed of the endless belts 146 and their spikes serve to close up any interspaces between the steaks, so that, as it reaches can filling position it is compacted into a substantially solid sheet of fish meat. 'When the fish at this point is so compacted the knives- 110, rotating, are moved downwardly from the position shown in Figure 12 by the drum cams 84 until their cutting edges are within the circular grooves 135, as shown in Figure 13 and a disk of fish is cut from the mass. Theknock out pads 122 are moved by the cams 85 to follow the knives down without contacting the fish until said knives reach the level of the bed 3. Immediately following this disk cutting movement the knives are raised by the cams 86 to clear the grooves, as shown in Figure 14. During part of the downward movement of the knives the pusher plate 61 is moved to the left by its operating cam 70 to push a row of cans onto the can lifters 42 and into' abutting engagement with the rim portions 49, so that they will be directly aligned below the several spindles 96. As soon as the knives are withdrawn from the groove the apertured plate 20 is moved rearwardly by the earns 30 to dispose the apertures 21 directly below the knives and the fish disks carried thereby and immediately following the registration the knock out pads are moved downwardly, pushing the fish out of each knife through the adjacent aperture 21 and into the can therebelow, as shown in Figure 15. During the downward movement of the pad suction is applied to the bore 121 of the vertical shaft 99 to hold the cut fish in contact with the knock out pads 122. vIt will be noticed that when each of the cans are in filling position a vent finger 130 will be disposed above it, which will be thrust into parallel position along the can side as the fish enters said can. These fingers will allow air to freely escape from the can as the fish disk enters, thus enabling the fish to enter freely and without causing spillage of fluid carried by the fish meat. When the fish is pressed into the can by a knock out pad, the suction is cut off therefrom and air pressure is supplied through the bore 121 and the radial grooves 124 of the pad to release the said pad from contact with the fish and the pad and the associated knife 110 will be returnedto their upper position as shown in Figure 16; Simultaneously with the raising of the knives, the pusher plate 61 will be withdrawn to allow a further row of cans to slide into position on the can receiving table 36 from the conveyors 38 and the can lifters 42 will be lowered, freeing the vent fingers 130 from" the cans, so that the apertured plate 20 may return to the right as in Figure 5. The lowering of the can lifters causes one edge of each can to engage the upper end of a tongue 57 of the slide plate 55, causing saidcan to tip to the left and as soon as the rim portion 49 of the can lift recedes below said tongue the can becomes freed therefrom and slides from the slide plate as shown in Figure 16 onto the discharge conveyor 58 for transfer to a capping and sealing machine.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A can filling machine comprising a bed upon which fish slices are adapted to be placed, a plate coextensive with said bed, said plate having an opening and being slidably mounted with respect to the bed, a rotary cutter arranged transversely above the apertured plate, means for crowding the fish slices into a closely packed sheet of meat, means for supporting a can under the cutter, means for depressing the cutter to cut a disk of fish from the compacted fish, means for disposing the plate opening in registration with the cutter and the can supporting means, and means for forcing the disk of fish into the can.

2. A can filling machine comprising a bed upon which fish slices are adapted to be placed, a plate coextensive with said bed, said plate having a row of openings and being slidably mounted with respect to the bed, a plurality of rotary cutters arranged in a transverse row above the plate, means for depressing the cutters to cut disks from the fish upon the plate, means for moving the plate to dispose its openings in register with the cutters, and means for forcing the fish disks from the cutters downwardly through said openings for filling cans placed therebelow.

3. A can filling machine comprising a bed upon which fish slices are adapted to be placed, a plate coextensive with said bed, said plate having a row of openings and being slidably mounted with respect to the bed, a plurality of rotary cutters arranged in a transverse row above the plate, means for depressing the cutters to cut disks from the fish upon the plate, means for moving the plate to dispose its openings in register with the cutters, means for forcing the fish disks from the cutters downwardly through said openings for filling cans placed therebelow, and means for crowding the fish upon the bed to close up the openings cut in the fish slab by the cutters subsequent to the forcing of one set of fish disks through the openings in the apertured plate. 4. A can filling machine comprising a bed upon which fish slices are adapted to be urged, a plate having a transverse row of openings, said plate being coextensive with said bed and being slidably mounted thereto, an end wall for the bed, said plate being adapted to project below said end wall, a plurality of rotatory cylindrical cutters arranged in a transverse row above the plate, said end wall having a plurality of arcuate recesses coinciding substantially to an adjacent side of the cylindrical cutters, means for reciprocating the cutters to cut disks from fish adjacent the end wall, means for moving the plate to dispose its openings below the cutters, and means for forcing the disks from the cutters through said openings.

5. A can filling machine as claimed in claim 2, said bed having side walls for confining the fish slices laterally of the bed and its plate and an end wall adjacent the cutters, an endless belt mounted longitudinally above the bed, said belt having fish indenting devices adapted to engage the fish upon the bed to urge it under the cutters, and means for driving the endless belt.

6. A can filling machine having a bed upon which fish is moved in sheet form, an apertured plate coextensive with the bed and slidable relative thereto, a table adapted to receive a row of cans, a plurality of can supports each adapted to receive a can from the table, a pusher plate for moving the cans of the row into their respective can supports, means for blanking out disks of fish from the fish upon the apertured plate, means for moving the apertured plate and for discharging the disks downwardly through said apertured plate into the cans upon the can supports, and means for removing the filled cans collectively from said supports to discharge.

7. A can filling machine having a bed upon which fish is moved in sheet form, a table adapted to receive a row of cans, a plurality of can supports each adapted to receive a can from the table, a pusher plate for moving the cans of the row into their respective can supports, means for blanking out disks of fish from the fish upon the plate, means for discharging the disks downwardly below the bed, said can supports each having a slot, an inclined slide plate extending lengthwise of the can supports and having an inclined tongue extending into each slot, means for lowering the can supports to lower each can onto its complementary tongue to cause said can to move to discharge away from its can support.

8. A can filling machine comprising a bed having an apertured plate coextensive therewith and an end wall under which the apertured plate is slidably mounted, a pair of vertical shafts mounted on opposite sides of the bed, a row of'spindles extending transversely of the plate, means for rotating the spindles from one of said shafts, each spindle having a sleeve, a cylindrical cutter carried by the sleeve adapted to cut a disk of fish on the plate and a shaft vertically slidable within the sleeve and a knock out pad on the lower end of the shaft and residing within the cylindrical cutter, said spindles being collectively supported for unitary movement, and means for vertically reciprocating the cutters through one sequence of movement, and means for vertically moving the knock out pads through a different sequence of movements.

9. A can filling machine as claimed in claim 8, where- .in the knock out pads are adapted in their sequence to extend downwardly through the apertures of the apertured plates.

10. A can filling machine as claimed in claim 8, wherein means are provided for applying suction to the underside of the knock out pads when its coacting cutter is cutting fish on the plate and for applying air under pressure to said knock out pad to break the adhesion of the fish to said pad.

11. A can filling machine comprising a bed having an apertured plate coextensive therewith and an end wall under which the apertured plate is slidably mounted, a standard extending above the bed, a row of spindles extending across the bed and mounted for unitary reciprocation from said standard, each of said spindles consisting of a sleeve fitted at its lower end with a cylindrical cutter, and a shaft journalled in each sleeve and fitted at its lower end with a knock out pad, means for rotating the sleeves, means for imparting reciprocatory movement to the sleeves and cutters adapted to cut disks of fish upon the apertured plate, and means for imparting reciprocatory movement to the shafts and pads to thrust said disk through the apertures of the plate.

12. A can filling machine comprising a bed having an apertured plate coextensive therewith, and an end wall under which the apertured plate is slidably mounted, a standard extending above the bed, a row of spindles extending across the bed and mounted for unitary reciprm cation from said standard, a driven vertical shaft mounted adjacent the standard, said shaft having a sprocket chain connected to each of the spindles to rotate them, a pair of cams mounted upon said shaft, each of said spindles consisting of a sleeve supporting a cylindrical cutter and a shaft within the sleeve carrying a knock out pad, one of said cams being adapted to reciprocate the sleeve and the other of said cams being adapted to reciprocate the shaft and its knock out pad.

13. A can filling machine comprising a bed having an apertured plate coextensive therewith, and an end wall under which" theapertured plate is slidably mounted, a support undr the plate upon which a can is adapted to be. carriedj'rfieansfor moving the plate relative to the bed to dispose an aperture of the plate over the can supportand the can carried thereon, means vertically disposed above the plate and the can support for thrusting fish from the bed through said aperture intothe can, and means extending into the can adjacent its peripheral wall for venting said can as the fish descends thereinto.

14. A can filling machine comprising a bed having an apertured plate coextensive therewith, and an end Wall under which the apertured plate is slidably mounted, a can support under the plate upon which a can is adapted to be carried, means for moving the plate relative to the bed to dispose an aperture of the plate over the can support and the can carried thereon, means vertically disposed above the plate and the can support for thrusting fish from the bed through said aperture into the can, and means extending into the can adjacent its peripheral wall for venting said can as the fish descends thereinto, said venting means being carried by the plate and said can support being vertically movable towards the aperture therein when said aperture is in register with the fish thrusting means.

15. A can filling machine comprising a bed having an apertured plate coextensive therewith, and an end wall under which the apertured plate is slidably mounted, a support under the plate upon which a can is adapted to be carried, means for moving the plate relative to the bed to dispose an aperture of the plate over the can support and the can carried thereon, means vertically disposed above the plate and the can support for thrusting fish from the bed through said aperture into the can, and means extending into the can adjacent its peripheral wall for venting said can as the fish descends thereinto, said venting means being a finger hingedly mounted below the plate and said can support being vertically movable towards the aperture therein when the aperture is in register with the fish thrusting means.

16. A can filling machine comprising a bed having an apertured plate coextensive therewith, and an end wall under which the apertured plate is slidably mounted, a cylindrical rotary knife mounted above the plate, means for reciprocating the knife to cut fish upon the plate, said plate having an annular groove to receive the cutting edge of said knife when said knife is at the end of its cutting stroke, means for moving the plate after a fish cutting operation to bring the aperture of the plate into register with the knife, a can support mounted below the rotary knife, and means for forcing the cut fish from within the knife through the aperture and into a can upon the can support.

17. A can filling machine as claimed in claim 16 wherein the means for thrusting the fish from within the knife into the can is a plunger slidably mounted within said knife and is actuated in timed relation thereto.

18. A can filling machine comprising a bed having an apertured plate coextensive therewith, and an end wall under which the apertured plate is slidably mounted, a cylindrical rotary knife mounted above the plate, said plate being adapted to support fish to be cut into circular disks, means for moving the knife in a downward direction to project its cutting edge to a point below the fish supporting surface of the plate, means for returning the knife, means for moving the plate subsequent to the cutting operation to bring the aperture of the plate into register with the knife, and means for forcing the fish cut through said aperture.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

